Fred IT Group announced as a winner of the Innovation Challenge

The Australian Digital Health Agency has announced Fred IT Group as one of the winners of its Innovation Challenge for its solution which enables Australians to easily access their prescriptions electronically via WhatsApp.

Through the National Digital Health Strategy, the government is partnering with Australia’s internationally competitive and vibrant health technology sector at a time when the use of technology in health and social care has never been more important.

The Innovation Challenge champions digital health innovation to provide a healthier future for Australians through connected healthcare, and Fred is one of only five winners selected from 395 applications from Australian industry and academia.

The award-winning solution developed by Fred, a joint venture within the Telstra Health group and the largest provider of software to the Australian pharmacy sector, provides a seamless consumer experience for the easier fulfilment of ePrescriptions by leveraging Australians’ existing high levels of usage of WhatsApp and working together with Fred’s existing MedView Flow pharmacy application.

The solution is the first use of the WhatsApp platform for prescription dispensing requests via a WhatsApp chatbot, and enables patients who use the platform to forward their required prescriptions to their local pharmacy of choice for dispensing.

Fred’s recent achievement follows on from its success in achieving Australia’s first dispense of an ePrescription earlier this year.

The winning entrants of the Innovation Challenge were determined through a competitive process, and the successful applicants’ solutions and services enable delivery of care in new ways, improve health outcomes, strengthen responses to health emergencies and accelerate digital health into the future.

The Australian Digital Health Agency will now collaborate closely with Fred and the other successful applicants to assist them in co-designing their solution and assist with plans for national scaling. You can read more about Fred IT Group and its solutions here.